Samuel Erkkila (in blue) of the Grande Prairie Storm fronts the net during the Brian Nash Game at Revolution Place in mid-August. Erkkila and his teammates kick off the Alberta Junior Hockey League season Friday night in Fort McMurray when they take on the Oil Barons. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.

The Grande Prairie Storm open up the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) season this weekend when they travel to Fort McMurray to take on the Oil Barons.

The club finished the pre-season with a 5-1-0 mark but Storm Head Coach Matt Keillor really didn’t care much about the record, though he did admit it’s better than losing all six games.

What Keillor and Storm General Manager Mark Bomersback wanted to see was a team that totally understood who they were and what they were capable of.

“The biggest thing we wanted out of main camp was to, not only find, but to foster our identity (as a team), as a hard-working and pressure team,” Keillor said. “We saw that consistently all through the six games in the pre-season. We felt we outworked our opponents. Even in the (6-2) loss to Trail (on Aug. 24), we felt we had a good effort, start to finish. There’s lots of time left for teaching and learning but the one thing we know for sure, night in and night out, we’re going to give every team (a full effort). It’s never going to be an easy night against us.”

Group effort

Last season the Storm was a top-heavy team, with a select few players counted on to score goals on a regular basis. The coach admitted there might not be any elite goal scorers on this team and he seems OK with that, given the construction of the roster. Time will tell in that aspect.

“Our work ethic and speed is probably the best its ever been,” Keillor said. “We have a lot of depth. The days of having 40-goal scorers, we’re not expecting that. We want four lines that can score on any given night. We’ll be really hard (to play against), especially down the stretch in a 60-game season. Notoriously, we’ve been a two-line team but now we feel we have four lines and six defence, that on any given night, can give us an opportunity to win.”

Filling the net

With the departure of Zachary Okabe, Connor Blake, Noah Corson, Zach Webb and Vincent-Milot Ouellet, the Storm lost 87 goals combined from those five players. Throw in the possibility import winger Alex Nordstrom may not return, the total reaches 107 goals gone missing. The Storm scored 180 goals during the 2018-19 regular season.

Keillor noted returning players like Nathan Morgan, Nathanial Bierd, Ethan Strang and Captain Jackson Wozniak wanted the opportunity to help make up the goal differential.

The coach noted it was only pre-season but he also mentioned these players are on the roster because the hockey department believes they have the skill necessary to do the job.

“They came back in phenomenal shape and they’ve been doing it,” Keillor said. “The first thing we heard is, it (going to) be tough to replace scoring but—if you look we’re over four goals a game right now—and it’s all coming from different guys. Some of these guys—who never got an opportunity last year—know they’re (going to get) the opportunity (this year) and they’re producing.”

One in, one out

Back in August, the Storm sent defenceman Tyrell Boucher to the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) in exchange for Doug Scott and future considerations. Last week, the Storm traded Scott to the Vernon Vipers of the BCHL in exchange for 18-year old defenceman Ryan MacLean.

“We played one (exhibition) game against Vernon and I thought (MacLean) was fantastic,” Keillor said. “We’re always scouting when playing against different opponents. He scored a nice goal against us and moved the puck really well. He’s got good size, he’s an excellent student and (he was) a high value target for Vernon.”

Ice Chips

Currently, the Storm have 23 carded players, with 25 being the maximum number a team can carry at any one time… Alex Nordstrom is still with the Fargo Force of the United States Hockey League. Keillor estimated the Storm should know Nordstrom’s intention by Sept. 25, the day the Force have to get down to their 23-man roster … The club traded defenceman Kaeden Tenkoppel to the Lloydminster Bobcats for future considerations … The Storm picked up 18-year-old defenceman Jason Chu from the Prince George Spruce Kings in exchange for future considerations. Chu played in the Doyle Cup against the Brooks Bandits last year and also participated in the National Junior A Championship tournament in Brooks.